Ode to Mancamp

I have been back a month. Days after returning more info started to click. I kept reviewing the muscle points and their corresponding number, the routine, and wondering if I could really do this. The only thing standing in my way is my 1974 baby blue Ford F-100 I lovingly call Mancamp. I had purchased this beast of a vehicle a few years back. I had always wanted an old Ford. I had such intense memories of my families old trucks. They were wheat farmers in central Washington. My mother and father had grown up there, my grandmother was raised there and I was born there too. This would be the only place that remained constant in my growing up. Each summer I would return to play with my cousins, to sit in the back of the wheat trucks and run around the fields of gold while my uncle and grandfather were in the distance driving the combines across the hillside. I loved this little town. It was my sanctuary. So for years I had thought that if I only had an old truck I would be connected to this time in my life as long as it ran.

After months spent searching Craigslist for my dream Ford, I found one I could afford, and it was baby blue. At the time I purchased it it had a canopy with a carpeted couch kit inside. The floorboards were removable and when slid in between the two benches made a bed. There were also 6 cup holders. My friend Alice looked inside at this amazing scene and quickly declared that men camp in this thing, this is Mancamp.

Unfortunately, I had to rip out this majesty as it had been taken over by mildew. Next went the canopy, it was finally transformed into the truck of my childhood. Aside from its gas guzzling ways it drove perfect...for a few months. After the engine went out I saved my summer money I earned at the Brewery. I had wanted to begin riding lessons, I finally had a vehicle, another setback. At the end of the summer I took my $2000 to Tony who installed a new engine. I had to keep it running. Everyone thought I was nuts but it represented something more to me than impractical. We took many trips in it. Mancamp saw the ocean, the mountains, the dump, moved couches into friends houses, hauled manure into gardens, and could fit 4 people on its bench seat. It felt like you were riding a couch. It did take me to many riding lessons, and always turned heads. Yet now, as I embark on my new adventure in equine massage, reliability and practicality are tugging at my sleeve. This year alone I have spent $1300 on the radiator and various coolant issues, not to mention the outrageous gas bill. Oh they do love to see mancamp pull into the 76 station.

On Monday I drove Mancamp to Sauvie Island. My boyfriend's boss has a 1991 Subaru wagon for sale. Subarus are reliable, right? I left Mancamp and took the Subaru for a week trial. Today will be the deciding factor as I let the Suby specialists do a comprehensive check-up. All I need is a year or two out of this little car. I am not quite ready for the dreaded car loan and everything that is involved with making a car purchase. All of my focus is on my externship, I have 5 months to finish the requirements needed to obtain my certification. The only thing standing in my path is a reliable vehicle. Yet no matter what, as winter approaches I can not take Mancamp with me. Thank you old blue! The adventures will not be forgotten.